Carson & his teacher....we LOVE her!!!
OK, this is totally Carson's personality! "Quit it D-A-D-D-Y!!!"
Time flies. This was them a year ago...I know, it is really hard to believe. I appreciate every day & thank God for all my blessings.
Yep, that really is my cell phone.
I picked Carson up from his last day of K3. He begins K4 on Monday! He is very excited. When I picked him up he had a very interesting collection of "stuff' in his cubby. First, he handed me a leaf he found on the playground. He told me it was for me to wear in my hair. So, of course I had to try and keep it in all afternoon. Next, he showed me a nut & bolt, some twigs, a quarter, a piece of red felt, 2 dead leaves, and a few strands of mulch. It really made me laugh. He told me he had been saving them all week to take home and make a skeleton. Below is his skeleton. We worked together to complete it this afternoon. If you look really closely, you can see that the head is that of George Washington. I was quite interested in his choice for the hair too. He told me that it was really me once we put the "hair" on. :)
"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."
Thomas A. Edison
We had our "Meet the Teacher" day today. I got to meet all but one of my 18 students. They are all so very cute. I have a set of twins in my classroom. Ironically enough I also have a students who has twin baby brothers. I need to get those mama's together!
I realized two things:
1- My "baby boy" is so close to going to school. This is the year of "the lasts"...last year going to school alone, last year going to PTA alone, etc.
2- Most parents see their children with the "same eyes". Teachers "see" them differently. My new students were doing the same things my own children would do. As a teacher I saw them playing & exploring their new home. Their parents saw them getting into things. I realized the parent side of me would say the same things some of them did. Only I would probably include "the look", but my teacher side told parents, "You know, I have a son almost their age. Let them play they are having fun." It is really funny how we see things so very differently when it is our own.
Enough of my philosophical insight. I am just constantly reminded of how much children teach us about ourselves every day!
:)
My room is done. I put the final touches on it today. I just need to add my students' names to my bulletin board on t-shirts & hang them on the clothes line. I hung the window curtain that my Mother-in-law so graciously made. I also arranged some throw pillows (lets hope they don't actually get thrown) & a couple of bird's nests (thanks again Gretchen!!). I LOVE it. I also had a couple of my very good friends stop by. They brought their kids. I loved watching them in my classroom. I think they O.K.'d it & I passed the kid inspection. I also picked up Carson & Lauren a bit early and brought them to see it. Carson was SO excited. I took him by a K-5 class where he proceeded to give it his O.K. He talked about it all afternoon. So, here's to another great year....minus all the old comforts of home (WES). Most of you will understand that!
Enjoy the pics...it could be a while before I post again. My life is about to get VERY busy...at least until Christmas. 135 days till my next big break...but who's counting?? 
While out shopping for back to school items, I found some really cute wood die-cuts (well that is what I call them). They had an example in the store so I had an idea how to paint them. This is what I ended up with. It took me about 3 hours to complete. I think I am going to gorilla glue some of them to the end of paint stirrers and use them for classroom pointers. The others will be made into magnets. I love the camouflage canoes. I also love the frogs. I should add that our theme this is, "At the Creek, Where Learning Comes Naturally". Our school is Abner Creek for those of you who may not know that. My next project is for Lauren's room. We will be working on turning it into a big girl room...I will post that as soon as I get around to it! I also finished up my room, but forgot my camera. I will post some pics of all my boards, etc. when I get a chance!
Since so many of you have not been able to see my new room, I thought I would take some pictures and post them. It is still messy, but you get the idea. I can say that I am going to miss my old school. My old principal and Asst. principal came by the school today and i got a little sad... The people I worked with were amazing. I made so many friends there and it was really hard to leave, but every book has many chapters. It was time to begin a new chapter. You just know when it is time to try something new. I am excited and ready for a great beginning.
View from the front of the room
View from the hallway door
View from the bathroom door
Standing at my computer
My Literacy Center
My computer area and Writing Center
Well, I can't load any pictures for some reason so I thought I would post about my day. I got to work in my new room today!!! I AM EXHAUSTED. My friend Amy and I moved @36 tables and even more chairs. It seems that there was a mix up and we had 2nd grade tables in our rooms. So, not wanting to wait around for maintenance to move them (who knows how long that would take) we decided to move all 4 rooms! After spending all summer NOT being able to work, we were not going to let anything get in our way!
I have my room mostly arranged and almost unpacked! Woohooo! We have about 19 children each. I am hoping that is it for the year....that is way to many for first grade in my opinion. BUT, we only have 4 teachers...so I guess I better find somewhere to put another table.
I will be back again tomorrow morning to hopefully finish unpacking and move on to...Calendar!
